Articles of clothing, upholstery, and other fabrics used in households are typically made of fibers that wrinkle during washing, pressing, and handling. Clothing can also wrinkle when worn or manipulated. Shirts are tucked into pants and worn in contact with the skin, and seat covers of a couch are constantly compressed in a certain direction. Winter clothing is also sometimes stored in boxes or depressurized bags that create unwanted wrinkles. Wrinkle-free clothing and fabrics are generally preferred for aesthetical reasons.
Metal pans filled with charcoal were used in the first century BCE in China to flatten fabrics. In the early 20th century, iron boxes filled with coal were sold in the United States, but this technology was never widely accepted. In the 17th century, delta-shaped tools of cast iron began to be used. These tools had a front nose and a back heel and were placed on a fire with a removable wooden handle. While irons have slowly become almost exclusively stainless steel models, the name “iron” survived changes in materials technology. Ironing boards used in conjunction with irons were also developed during the 20th century. U.S. Pat. No. 19,390 to Vandenburg et al. teaches a primitive version of an ironing board for shirts. The most successful and widely used iron design today is the electric iron, which is heated by a resistive heating element and was invented in 1882 by Henry W. Seeley.
Wrinkle-free surfaces are desirable for a variety of functional reasons, such as enabling the pearling of water over surfaces; for aesthetical reasons, such as providing the illusion that a piece of clothing is new; and for comfort reasons, as in the case with freshly ironed bed sheets or table linens. Wrinkles are removed by ironing or smoothing a tissue or clothing. Fabrics are heated or pressurized during the ironing process to straighten fibers using the weight of the iron and the additional pressure of the arm of a user. Pressure, heat, and humidity are used jointly to smooth clothing and other fabrics. Some fabrics, such as silk, are heat sensitive and can be damaged if ironed improperly. Light wool also requires extra care, since the fibers are delicately interwoven and weak. Some fabrics, such as cotton, require the addition of water to loosen intermolecular bonds and facilitate ironing.
Most households place so much importance on ironing that it has become a routine step in the weekly laundry cycle. Ironing can be time consuming and requires equipment such as an iron, an ironing board, and surface treatment products. This troublesome task, much like folding clothes, has remained virtually unchanged over the past decades, and for this reason, improvements hold great commercial value.
Lighter irons are easier to handle but require more hand pressure to operate. Light irons are also quicker to heat but do not have lengthy internal thermal inertia that allows the surface temperature to remain unchanged when placed over a humid article of clothing. Heavier irons are often difficult to manipulate and must be stored in locations away from where they might potentially cause harm. Virtually all types of iron must be stored between uses, since households rarely have dedicated floor space or laundry rooms dedicated to ironing and handling clothing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,158 to Sorensen and Chinese Patent No. 1,202,339 teach the use of a combined wall cabinet equipped with a retractable ironing board fixed within the cabinet and folded up for storage. These devices do not permit users to purchase readily available ironing boards. Further, these devices are bulky and require affixing a heavy cabinet to a wall at a dedicated location. Users of these devices are also limited in their range of operation of the ironing boards. For instance, an operator is unable to access the back of the board. These devices also force users to remain in a stationary location. Other devices described in International Patent Application PCT/NL01/00129 to Okkerse and U.K. Patent Application GB 2,411,906 describe iron holders placed horizontally or attached to the ironing board to allow a hot iron to be held safely between uses or while the fabric is being repositioned. Neither of these devices is directed to short- or long-term storage of ironing boards and irons. U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,433 to Clausen et al. teaches the installation on a wall of two different superimposed components: a board holder and a iron holder. A board holder is attached to the wall in a first step and a iron holder made of one single large tab is then locked into place over the board holder. By holding the iron by the handle at a single point, irons may be damaged by their own weight and the iron may wobble in place since it is not fixed to the holder. Clausen et al. teaches a device unable to hold or adapt to different types of irons. The device as shown is bulky, heavy, and expensive to produce. The device is also incapable of holding extra ironing products or an ironing board constructed without a T-shaped foot.
What is needed is a light, adjustable device able to hold different types and geometries of irons without causing damage to the iron and able to be installed on a wall in a single operation. What is also needed is a device able to hold extra ironing products and equipped to hold ironing boards of different geometries in a limited space. What is also needed is a cost-effective, heat-resistant device able to provide the above-mentioned improvements.